Few, interesting looking material. Good food for thought, certainly interesting reading. With these small ceramic enclosures I don't for see any trouble with ringing in the enclosures. To be honest I made a ceramic speaker enclosure, maybe 2004? At the time though my understanding of speaker design was pretty poor and, I did not own my own kiln. The experiment was short lived. However I did not have any problems with ringing of the cabinet.
Keriwena, thanks for the link I have seen the Norh cabinets before. They certainly are attractive cabinets. It's interesting they did not do more to reduce diffraction on the front baffles. Maybe they just had a price point to meet? I appriciate the link though.
I'll probably go ahead and throw the main section of the cabinets today or tomorrow. Thanks for all the advice.
Sorry to start another MDF vs Plywood debate....
Joe

I think your ceramic enclosures will be very cool---I looked into making some myself a few years ago but didn't have ready access to a kiln, and definitely don't have your experience with the material. I look forward to seeing your finished products.

On the resonance issue: If you were to knock on one of the ceramic enclosures you don't think it would ring? Most ceramic vessels I've encountered have pretty high Q (weakly damped) resonances but you obviously know more about the ceramics you're making than I do! Just to be clear, I'm referring to vibrations of the ceramic walls not resonances of the air in the enclosure.

On the resonance issue: If you were to knock on one of the ceramic enclosures you don't think it would ring? Most ceramic vessels I've encountered have pretty high Q (weakly damped) resonances but you obviously know more about the ceramics you're making than I do! Just to be clear, I'm referring to vibrations of the ceramic walls not resonances of the air in the enclosure.

Few

Well I certainly wouldn't say that it would not ring at all. However our pots don't ring like the commercial porcelain. Commercial porcelain will give a sustained ring when you knock on it. Our pots do make a high pitched noise when you knock on it with your knuckle, but there is no duration to the ring. I'm thinking gluing the baffle on with something like liquid nails will help to dampen the ringing even further. What comes to mind is how you can hold a bowl by it's foot and knock on it it can ring a bell, however if you hold the bowl by the rim there is no ringing what so ever..... that's my hope at least. We'll see.
Joe

Well I took a little time after work today to give a try at the enclosures for the Fostex driver. I made them a little shorter than I had drawn before. I didn't get them quite perfect. It's always a little bit difficult to get a new shape quite right. I'll give another try tomorrow evening. I think I like the one on the right best.
I did make them quite thick. They weight around 20lbs each right now, obviously they will loose weight as they dry out, but for their size they are about twice as thick as I would normally make. I think they should be pretty solid, with out any ringing after they are fired.
Joe

oh, in case it's not obvious they are sitting on their "heads" as it were. I'll add feet after they dry our a bit.

Looks really great Joe. How long will it take you to take them through the whole glazing(?) firing process?
Few

Our firing is scheduled to start March 17 and finish up sometime on the 19th. We'll probably unload the kiln the 21st. I'll post pictures of the fostex and tangband enclosures before they go in the kiln.
Joe

Well I took a little time after work today to give a try at the enclosures for the Fostex driver. I made them a little shorter than I had drawn before. I didn't get them quite perfect. It's always a little bit difficult to get a new shape quite right. I'll give another try tomorrow evening. I think I like the one on the right best.
I did make them quite thick. They weight around 20lbs each right now, obviously they will loose weight as they dry out, but for their size they are about twice as thick as I would normally make. I think they should be pretty solid, with out any ringing after they are fired.
Joe

oh, in case it's not obvious they are sitting on their "heads" as it were. I'll add feet after they dry our a bit.

lol nice pots!!!hopefully wont ring too much , given as theyre very thick looking! The only thing that would worry me would be when the driver gioes in and you tighten the screws/bolts, and try not to destroy the pot in the process...you COULD glue i spose...If that would be sufficient and you dont mind having to break them to get back in, should you need to....

as a potter, do YOU have any ideas how i could cut a pot such as those, vertically down the centre?

Anglegrinder???

then i could reattach the halves with silicone sealer........

and to all:

sorry about going off topic.

cant stand ppl slating MDF, when its perfectly good for applications as long as you are aware of the disadvatnages and design around them, as with any material.
the ONLY material that COULD be perfect would be a composite. end of story. maybe ceramic interior, with a foam or air gap between that and a wooden/MDF/PLY/nylon exterior...

__________________
Balancing the things I must do, with the things I'd like to do...This is a skill (or a luxury) I do not possess.

lol nice pots!!!hopefully wont ring too much , given as theyre very thick looking! The only thing that would worry me would be when the driver gioes in and you tighten the screws/bolts, and try not to destroy the pot in the process...you COULD glue i spose...If that would be sufficient and you dont mind having to break them to get back in, should you need to....

as a potter, do YOU have any ideas how i could cut a pot such as those, vertically down the centre?

Anglegrinder???

then i could reattach the halves with silicone sealer........

mondogenerator
I'm planning on glueing on a wooden front baffle then screwing the drivers to that. I'm not brave enough to glue my drivers in place

As far as cutting a ceramic vase or jar in half..... might be difficult. The best way to do it is if you know somebody with a brick saw. These use a diamond blade and spray water on the blade to keep it from heating up. Assuming you don't know anybody with a brick saw, you'll need a diamond blade of some type. Probably an angle grinder. I would cut a little and then let the pot cool back down. The biggest danger is the pot cracking from thermal shock. To be honest you'll probably break a few before you get it right. Might be easier to find a potter to cut one in half before it's fired. I would make on for you and send it your way, but you would probably be best finding somebody on your side of the Atlantic. Shipping would probably be a bear.
Joe